Bracelet Hunting Continues For WSOP PA Players; Four Winners Crowned

For the first time ever, the World Series of Poker offered eight bracelet events for players located in Pennsylvania. In July, WSOP.com officially debuted the site in the Keystone State.
WSOP.com Pennsylvania doesn’t share liquidity with other states at this time. But players have been able to get in the action in eight bracelet events running from Aug. 8-15 with buy-ins ranging from $400 to $3,200.
The series features No Limit Hold’em and four events are already in the books. That total should be five, but technical difficulties led to one event getting canceled. Here’s a look at the state’s first online bracelet winners.
Event 1: $500 Keystone Kickoff (Aug. 8)
The inaugural Pennsylvania bracelet event took place Sunday night. The tournament attracted 500 entries to create a prize pool of $225,000.
At the end of the night it was a tale of two rivers. A player known as “Ratrivers” took home a bracelet and $48,420 after defeating “NovaRiver”.
The event was played on WSOP.com’s new software platform that was launched in July.
Event 2: $500 NLHE PKO (Aug. 9)
The progressive knockout (PKO) event saw 327 entries. During a PKO tournament players can gain more money for each player they eliminate from the field. A portion of the bounty goes to the winning player and another portion is put on that player’s head.
The final KO was delivered to “LooseChangee” after “PotTheRiver” scored the elimination and a gold bracelet.
“PottheRiver” received $27,593 for the victory. Of that, $14,746 came from knockouts earned throughout the event.
PotTheRiver also overcame Jason “sandjay” Rivkin who took third place. Rivkin scored multiple deep runs during the previous month’s US bracelet events, including multiple final tables.
Event 3: $3,200 High Roller (Aug. 10)
On Tuesday night, players unfortunately received a late message that the event had been cancelled. Some players who had traveled to Pennsylvania for the event weren’t happy about the decision.
The WSOP.com Twitter page announced the cancellation due to technical difficulties. The event has been rescheduled for Aug. 17.
Event 4: $400 NLHE Six-Max (Aug. 11)
Dean “TheRealYoshi” Morrow landed a bracelet and $35,480 on Wednesday night in the sIx-max event. The field included 295 players and 126 rebuys for a total prize pool of $151,560.
Morrow faced some heavy final table competition against New Jersey grinders Angel “Chr0meKing” Lopez and Steve “VoicetoSkull” Madara.
USPoker caught up with Madara who traveled to Pennsylvania to participate in the bracelet events.
“I came to PA for the series and rented a hotel room across the street from Parx Casino for the events,” he says. “I initially had multiple geolocation problems on Monday night, but by Tuesday it was working fine and I regained faith in the system.”
The trip turned out to be a nice idea. Madara won $14,974 and has had some other cashes as well. He’s now changed his schedule and plans to play in the delayed high roller event on Tuesday.
Event 5: $777 Lucky 7s (Aug. 12)
Dean “TheRealYoshi” Morrow attempted to go back to back on Thursday night but came up short at the final table. A player named “Mr.Magoo7” ended up with the bracelet at the end of the night.
Magoo7 won $40,325 in the Lucky 7s event. The total prize pool grew to $158,200 from 226 entries. The tournament found 36 players cashing including Taylor “dripbaeless” Nicole and Barrett “Soil_Brunson” Lipkin.
Upcoming PA WSOP bracelet events
WSOP.com offers a few more events over the next few days. That includes a PKO tournament, Monster Stack, and High Roller. Here’s a look at the upcoming weekend’s action:
- $400 NLHE PKO (Event 6, Aug. 13)
- $600 MonsterStack (Event 7, Aug. 14)
- $1,000 PA Championship (Event 8, Aug. 15)
- $3,200 High Roller (Event 3, Aug 17) – rescheduled tournament